In the first fight on the main card of UFC 128 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, Brendan Schaub beat Mirko Cro Cop by TKO (punch) at 3:44 of the third round.

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After an upset in the first quarterfinal at the Strikeforce World Grand Prix Heavyweight Tournament at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, NJ on Saturday night, the main event, another quarterfinal between Fedor Emelianenko and Antonio “Big Foot” Silva, was ready to go.

In the first round, the pair traded shots but in the second round it was all Big Foot.

Silva avoided a Fedor overhand right and brought him to the ground where he continued to pound and pound away at Fedor’s face. Towards the end of the round, Fedor tried a leg lock but Big Foot just looked at him like he was crazy.

But the damage has been done as the referee stopped the fight because Fedor couldn’t see out of his right eye giving Big Foot the TKO win. With the win, Silva will face the winner of the quarterfinal between Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum.

After the fight, Fedor said in an interview that this could have been his last fight in his illustrious career. That interview is below the video of the second round beatdown.

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Fedor interview:

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Photo credit: Ed Mulholland for ESPN.com

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After three reserve bouts at the Strikeforce World Grand Prix Heavyweight Tournament at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, NJ on Saturday night, the quarterfinal round of the tournament got underway between Sergei Kharitonov and Andrei Arlovski.

And like the three reserve fights, this one too ended in the first round when Kharitonov knocked out Arlovski at 2:49 of the first round. With the upset win, Kharitonov advances to the semifinals of the Strikeforce World Grand Prix Heavyweight Tournament where he’ll face the winner of the upcoming Josh Barnett vs Brett Rogers match.

{flvremote}http://ianbethune.com/kharitonov212.flv|375|281{/flvremote}

SOX & Dawgs has been nominated for “Best Red Sox Blog” at the New England Sports Blog Awards! Please take a few moments from your day to vote for SOX & Dawgs by heading over to Trufan.com. You are allowed to vote once a day. Thank you for your support not only in the voting but also to make the site what it is today.

In the third reserve bout at the Strikeforce World Grand Prix Heavyweight Tournament at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, NJ on Saturday night, Shane Del Rosario beat Lavar Johnson by submission (armbar) at 4:31 of the first round. With the win, Del Rosario is the first alternate in the tournament.

{flvremote}http://ianbethune.com/delrosario212.flv|375|281{/flvremote}

SOX & Dawgs has been nominated for “Best Red Sox Blog” at the New England Sports Blog Awards! Please take a few moments from your day to vote for SOX & Dawgs by heading over to Trufan.com. You are allowed to vote once a day. Thank you for your support not only in the voting but also to make the site what it is today.

In the second reserve bout at the Strikeforce World Grand Prix Heavyweight Tournament at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, NJ on Saturday night, Chad Griggs beat Gianpiero Villante by TKO (punches) at 2:49 of the first round. With the win, Griggs is the third alternate in the tournament.

{flvremote}http://ianbethune.com/griggs212.flv|375|281{/flvremote}

SOX & Dawgs has been nominated for “Best Red Sox Blog” at the New England Sports Blog Awards! Please take a few moments from your day to vote for SOX & Dawgs by heading over to Trufan.com. You are allowed to vote once a day. Thank you for your support not only in the voting but also to make the site what it is today.

In the first reserve bout at the Strikeforce World Grand Prix Heavyweight Tournament at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, NJ on Saturday night, Valentijn Overeem beat Ray Sefo by submission (neck crank) at 1:37 of the first round. With the win, Overeem is the second alternate fighter in the tournament.

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The main event of UFC 126 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV between Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort started out a little slow with Belfort getting a few kicks in during the first 2 and half minutes.

But after a few exchanges, the fight got going and at 4:25 of the first round, Belfort found himself laying on the ground after a great front kick from Silva. After two punches to the face, it was all over as Silva retained his UFC Middleweight Championship with a knock out win over Belfort.

Here’s the video of the knock out as well as the postfight interviews:

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Photo credit: Ric Fogel for ESPN.com

In the third of five fights on the main card at UFC 126 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV, Jon Jones submitted Ryan Bader with a Guillotine choke at 4:20 of the second round. It’s the first loss for Bader in his MMA career.

During the postfight interview, Joe Rogan announced that Jones will replace Rashad Evans in UFC 128 and will fight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the light heavyweight title. Evans is unable to fight due to a knee injury.

Here’s the video of the submission as well as the postfight interview.

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The main event of the Strikeforce event on Saturday night at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA featured Nick Diaz defending his Strikeforce Welterweight Championship for the second time, this one against Evangelista Cyborg.

In what looked like a heavyweight boxing match for the first round and a good portion of the second, the pair traded blows. But things changed when Cyborg took Diaz to the ground. It turns out, that’s exactly what Diaz wanted to happen.

Diaz would take advantage of his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills as he ended up beating Cyborg by submission (armbar) at 4:50 of the second round to retain his Strikeforce Welterweight Championship.

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For the first time since winning the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship in August of 2010, Jacaré Souza defended his title on Saturday night at the Strikeforce event at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA.

And at the end of the night, Souza walked out of the cage with his title as he submitted Robbie Lawler with a rear naked choke at 2:00 of the third round.

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